The disappointing news, for me, that Michel Rolland has been appointed consultant at Château Figeac, up to now one of the top standard bearers of the traditionally harmonious style of St.Émilion, reminds me that I saw an article by Franck Dubourdieu, the brother of Denis, which was very critical of the new classification and particularly of its favouring the “modern” spoofulated style in its promotion choices. He goes on to give a list of St.Émilion châteaux, which in his view still uphold Bordelais honour.

Here, for those who can read French, is a link to the whole article http://www.franckdubourdieu.com/pdf/244.pdf . I regret that, not being a professional translator, it would take me an enormous amount of time to do a proper translation job of the whole article, but here is my attempt at translating the passage of interest which mostly consists of names. (Those who scroll down though this newsletter will also discover very comprehensive vertical tasting notes on Ducru-Beaucaillou and a brief impression of the 2012 vintage.)

No one’s list can please everybody so there will clearly be dissent about several estates’ presence or absence here but the most glaring omission from the above list is Château Ausone. The last vintage of this which I have tasted was 1959 (superb) at a millennium tasting, so I have no currently relevant tasting input to make here.

Any views?

Last edited by Tim York on Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Tim, I too am shocked at the omission of Ausone, almost as much as if it had been demoted to just GCC. While I have not had any recent vintages of Ausone, both Chris Kissack and John Gilman seem to think that it's still making wine in a fairly traditional mold (though Gilman has recently expressed some concern about the '09 and '10 Ausones).

Overall, seems pretty reasonable though I would quibble with Château Grand-Pontet as a traditional style (though I can like the wine). Sorry to see La Dominique isn't there as that used to be one of my favorite St. Emilion's from the 80's and early 90's, but I haven't had a more recent vintage so I've no idea of its recent style.

Otto wrote:Vieux Pourret is great (though I thought it was a GC so I don't understand why it's not on your list).

Otto, I can't find Vieux Pourret in the list of Grands Crus Classés. It is probably allowed the call itself Grand Cru, though. This is a perfect illustration of how the St.E categories are difficult to understand. I had to look it up again to remind myself of the difference between GCC and GC.

BTW, it's not my list, it's Franck Dubourdieu's. I don't have any pretensions of being a St.E expert.

Otto, almost every St Emilion exported is St Emilion Grand Cru AC (I think the only requirements are something like hitting 11.5 percent alcohol and an extra month or two in barrel), this list is of Grand Cru Classe wines. I know it's confusing.

We all will have our quibbles. I love old school Ausone, but don't think I've had in last decade. There are a couple of GCC listed that I think of as "midmodern" (Dassault, Grand Corbin Despagne) but neither is extreme, and my tastings were more concentrated on 1998-2001 period. The one notable absence I thought of was Soutard, famously old school (and hated by Parker). But I just looked up recent notes and Gilman and others think it is definitely modern now.

Dale Williams wrote:Otto, almost every St Emilion exported is St Emilion Grand Cru AC (I think the only requirements are something like hitting 11.5 percent alcohol and an extra month or two in barrel), this list is of Grand Cru Classe wines. I know it's confusing.

Just as with the German system (1971 legal categories + VDP competitive overlay), understanding the St.Émilion classification is a real test of advanced wine geekery .

My guess is that 99%+ of wine buyers, even in France, do not appreciate the difference between GCC and GC, if indeed there is any in the bottle .